Writing habits

[gerrydodge]

How do you complete your writing for the day?  I read that Hemingway would stop in the middle of an important scene or dialogue at the end of the day and then he could easily begin where he stopped the previous day.  I tend to do that at times, but I also enforce a page limit--especially if I'm not feeling creative--say...two pages and then I'll stop.  I very seldom write more than three pages a day anyway.  I guess I'm a lazy writer.

[J Dean]

For me it's mostly dictated by circumstances.  I write until I have to stop, or until my creative juice for the day is spent.  Preferably, I try to wrap up a chapter or a section; I try not to do a "cliff-hanger" stop, in which a line of dialogue isn't completed, or a particular scene or action isn't finished.

[gerrydodge]

The hardest part for me is opening up the word document.  I love to write--once I begin--but I know it is a labor of love, but still LABOR.  I force myself, when my creativity is lagging, to write the two pages and often--not always--it is some of my best writing. 

[ASparrow]

I'm a bit of a guerrilla in my writing tactics. I sneak bits of writing in here and there throughout the day: early in the morning, during lunch, late at night. I rarely have a long  block of time. And I write on everything, scraps of paper in my pocket, on a laptop using MS Word, on an Alphasmart Neo, on a Palm TX. Somehow, all the pieces come together.

[gerrydodge]

Interesting, ASparrow.  I don't know what half those doo-dads are you speak of, but before the computer I know that Nabokov would go to bed with a notepad on his bedside table and wake, think, and write down specks of what he was writing or just reflections for some future piece.  I never get to talk to writers so this is nice for me!  Thanks for the response!

[ASparrow]

Interesting, ASparrow.  I don't know what half those doo-dads are you speak of, but before the computer I know that Nabokov would go to bed with a notepad on his bedside table and wake, think, and write down specks of what he was writing or just reflections for some future piece.  I never get to talk to writers so this is nice for me!  Thanks for the response!

My back pocket is full of such scraps right now (sometimes they don't survive the wash). That's my first draft. I'll take them and type them out into a second draft. Six drafts later, voila, there you have it: partially refined but still imperfect prose, ready for more drafts (or deletion). I'm no Jack Kerouac.


Procrastinators and long-distance travelers should check out the Alphasmart Neo. It has no connectivity except through a USB cable so there's no chance of surfing the internet. It turns on in an instant wherever you last left off writing and runs for about a year on a single change of AA batteries. I use it mainly when I travel to Africa.

[scott_audio]

I spend at least an hour a day, every day. I start typing and it doesn't matter if it makes sense.  Usually on Saturday, I spend a few hours going through everything, and pick out the few good pages, and build it into my current work or toss it into a journal drawer.  This free association works well for me and it is from that habit comes my best writing.  Then I have a first draft and spend countless weeks polishing, correcting my atrocious spelling and grammar, then I start all over again.

[William Woodall]

I don't have any particular settled habit about how I write.  I do it in fits and starts.  I may write every day for a couple of hours (or more) for a week or two, then lay off and not write anything at all for two or three months, then come back and write some more.  Just depends on the mood I'm in and what else is going on in my life at the time.

That said, even though I may not write every day, I'm almost always thinking about it.  I do a lot of mulling and tinkering in my head sometimes before anything actually gets put on paper.

It's a system that probably wouldn't work for everybody, but it seems to suit me.


Cry for the Moon

[Edward C. Patterson]

I do the Hemingway thing (Gee, I though I thunk that one up. I guess I need to move to Idaho and . . ). I follow Uncle Stevies suggested habit - write every day for a set number of hours. Read as amny hours as you write per day. Write a draft, put it in the drawer, wait 7 weeks and then do 3 revisions befotre considering it ready for publication. Milano and verona cookies. Vaughan Williams blasting. Always get up and walk around the room after a cadence - but return to the keyboard and write two sentences after that to assure an underpining continuity between cadence and sequelling.

Ed Patterson

[Maria Hooley]

I write everyday for however long I can before someone or something forces my attention elsewhere.  I find that if I write everyday, it's so much easier to keep focused on the project, and I spend a lot less time trying to pick up where I left off.  I like to get at least 5 pages done per day but some days it's a lot more and some days it's a lot less, unfortunately.

[sierra09]

If I'm in the writing mood which lately I seem to be my habit is normally write for as long as I can until someone sticks their head in my door to tell me to do something else then I may be away from it for a couple hours, go back and pick up where I left off. I try not to quit for the night at a vital spot or I often forget where the plot is supposed to be going so my main habit is to make sure I write everything that has been planned and is in my head for that day before going to bed or else by the morning my plot will change itself.
That's how my paranormal book turned itself into a paranormal book from the action one it was supposed to be. 

Other than that, I don't have many habits. I write when I feel like it because on days when I don't feel like... I can't force a word out that makes sense so I don't try on those days.

[gerrydodge]

Other than that, I don't have many habits. I write when I feel like it because on days when I don't feel like... I can't force a word out that makes sense so I don't try on those days.
 
Sierra09, often I find that's when my best writing comes out when I feel like I can't write a word.  Gerry

[sierra09]

I tried that once, Gerry. Sat for three hours, typing, backspacing and by the end of it I might have had 600 words that in the end didn't go anywhere.  I have certain zones it seems like I have to be in to do anything. I have a pure writing zone(which is when I write on characters and plots that I plan to actually do something with), then there's the writing-for-fun zone(which is stuff that no one but little old me will ever see usually since it's what I write when I'm bored or blocked).

Heck, I have to have a zone to be able to read comics into my tape recorder or else that bores me.  I'm a strange creature. 

[kellyabell]

I try to write for an hour a day.  I set aside a block of time and then write for that hour or longer if the inspiration warrants.  I also like to set myself word goals.  If I know I'm going to have a block of time (say a weekend) where I will have time to write I set myself a goal and then I publish it on various forums and ask for support.  It has been amazing the encouragement I get from other writers.  I have also issued challenges which have been readily received even by some on this thread! 

I also do the notebook by the bed thing.  I often wake up at night, like now, and have ideas that I just need to capture.  Many times I'll go to bed with a scene that is giving me trouble and wake up with the resolution.  I love it when my brain works while I'm asleep.  Talk about efficient multi-tasking!

Kelly
www.kellyabellbooks.com

[gerrydodge]

Maria,

Five pages!  Wow!  That is a lot of work.  I'm impressed.  Gerry